Sexuality and vulnerability

While male-to-male sex exists in every culture, the activities
concerned are rarely understood as 'homosexual', still less as 'gay' (McKenna,
1996). More likely than not, they will not be widely talked about, or named only
within local vernaculars often inaccessible to outsiders (Aggleton, Khan and
Parker, 1998). That said, in many countries of the world a not insubstantial
number of young men have their first sexual experience with other men, and for
some this may be the beginning of a longer lasting bisexual behavioural
repertoire. For example, 50 per cent of male university students recently
interviewed in Sri Lanka reported that their first sexual experience had been
with another man (Silva et al, 1997), and there are well documented
studies of behavioural bisexuality among men in countries as diverse as the
Philippines (Tan, 1996), India (Khan, 1996), Morocco (Bourshaba et al,
1998), Brazil (Parker, 1996), the Dominican Republic (de Moya and Garcia, 1996)
and Peru (Caceres, 1998). While it would be quite wrong to see male bisexuality
as a purely 'adolescent' phenomenon or triggered by men's lack of access to
women, the restrictions many cultures place on socialisation between the sexes
may have an important role to play in facilitating this alternative means of
sexual expression.

For a few young men, trading or selling sex to other men may
offer a means of survival in otherwise difficult circumstances. In countries as
diverse as Sri Lanka (Ratnapala, 1998), Thailand (McCamish and Sittitrai, 1997),
Mexico (Liguori and Aggleton, 1998) and Peru (Caceres, 1998), male prostitution
or sex work may take this form, with young men selling sex in order to provide
for themselves and their families. While not all male sex workers are ignorant
of the risks of STIs and HIV infection, and some may be better informed than
other young people of a similar age, the risks associated with trading or
selling sex in circumstances which are not of your own choosing are very real.
Not only is such behaviour illegal and/or heavily stigmatised in many societies,
the ability of young men to communicate and negotiate for safer sex with older
male partners may be limited by inequalities of status and power (e.g. Fordham,
1998) Where anal sex is practised, the unavailability of condoms and lubricant
may compound the risks some young men face (e.g. Khan, 1998).

Much less is known about current patterns of homosexual and
bisexual behaviour among young women, although such behaviours should be assumed
to occur not only during youth and 'adolescence', but also for some women as
part of a longer lasting lifestyle. The role of such behaviour in contributing
to, or protecting against, HIV-related risk requires further investigation. It
seems reasonable to suppose, however, that the stigmatised, denied and marginal
status of their behaviour makes it difficult for young homosexually active women
in developing countries to access the full range of information or resources to
protect their sexual
health